Q: You bring up an interesting point about the differences now between Triple-A development and all these emerging markets with mobile and social. I find it interesting in terms of the position you're in now with Disney, because Disney has clearly made a move away from the console platforms overall. You're one of the last guys kind of working on consoles. It seems like they've had that transition, and of course they have Playdom doing the social stuff. So what is that like for you? And do you want to actually transition into iOS or tablets or anything like that?

Warren Spector: Well, I'd say Disney is transitioning as opposed to "has transitioned." This is a really strange time in the game business. Usually, we have these seismic shifts where a hardware generation ends and another one just starts and everything changes, or we all have to move from PCs to consoles or something. This may seem sudden, but having seen sudden changes in the past, this seems like a very gradual move. So, I think over the next 3 to 5 years, you're going to see lots of people changing the way they approach consoles. I don't know that console gaming will ever go away. I think it's going to become more - god I said I would never get into the business of prediction, but here I go - I think what you're going to see is an increasing sort of stratification, where you see fewer, much higher end games that continue to do exceptionally well on the console.

But that's going to leave a lot of people behind. It's a lot like when, frankly, the first CDs came around and everybody at Origin [Systems] was looking at this silver disk going "oh my god, what happens when people with more money than we have start filling that thing with assets?" Well now, I mean, once you start actually doing Pixar quality interactive entertainment, there aren't going to be a lot of companies who can afford to do that. I hope Disney continues to be one of them. But the reality is, most of us are going to have to find a way to become part of the interconnected gaming ecosystem and not compete with real-time interactive Pixar movies.

So, I'm right there, I'm trying to figure out what the future holds, I'm trying to figure out how do I continue to make the kinds of relatively deep, player driven experiences that I want to do, not just on the console, but on mobile phones, etc. You ask how do I feel about iOS: I mean, if the opportunity were to present itself, if I ever left Disney, not that I'm planning on doing that -we have over 700 people around the world working on our new game now. But I would love to do a game with four guys. And the iOS, or mobile platforms are the place where you can actually do that again. So, I have a strong interest in mobile games, and I would love to try that. I think a lot about "how do I bring that idea that playstyle matters and choice and consequence gaming, character-driven story stuff, to that little iPhone or the little Android device?" No one has really done that, and so for me personally, I'm looking at that as an opportunity and hoping I get a chance to do it.

Currently Playing:

Yeah, that number seems really inflated. A giant AAA game like Skyrim took Bethesda 3 years with only about 100 people, and some of those people weren't even involved with development, they were marketing/ publishing folk.

So, if it's true that Specter's new Mickey game has a total staff of over 700 people, I would wager that would set a record for largest development staff in history. Which is why I think it's probably fair to say it's an inaccurate number. Star Wars The Old Republic has a staff of only 400. Starcraft 2 has less than 200 people. Both of those games are far deeper experiences than anything Specter can make turn out two years.

Also, the development cost for a staff of 700 would likely also set a record for most expensive game ever to make. We're talking like over $300 million. For one game. Epic Mickey 2 would have to sell Call of Duty-level sales to for that to be profitable. But we'll see...

Currently Playing:

I have been seeing a lot of information on epic mickey 2 as of lat so they must be tearing through it. Still needs a holiday release for optimal sales though. Hopefully it will fix everything that was wrong with the last version. Just think of what the tablet can bring to this game on wii u!

Currently Playing:

Is it just going to be on the wii and wii u or is it going to be multi plate this time around? Still cannot see it selling more than 5 to 6 million even if that was the case. I say hit every console including the ps2 for 19.99 on it. The wii version make 39.99.

I wonder if wii u games will go up higher than the wii game prices were?

sperrico87 said:Yeah, that number seems really inflated. A giant AAA game like Skyrim took Bethesda 3 years with only about 100 people, and some of those people weren't even involved with development, they were marketing/ publishing folk.

So, if it's true that Specter's new Mickey game has a total staff of over 700 people, I would wager that would set a record for largest development staff in history. Which is why I think it's probably fair to say it's an inaccurate number. Star Wars The Old Republic has a staff of only 400. Starcraft 2 has less than 200 people. Both of those games are far deeper experiences than anything Specter can make turn out two years.

Also, the development cost for a staff of 700 would likely also set a record for most expensive game ever to make. We're talking like over $300 million. For one game. Epic Mickey 2 would have to sell Call of Duty-level sales to for that to be profitable. But we'll see...

Assassin's Creed might compete as they have well over 1,000 people working at Ubisoft Montreal, but 700 is a stupidly high number

I'm really hoping they will port the first game on HD consoles. I think it could benefit from it a lot. Ideally I'd like to have it included alongside the second game. As long as it's a retail release I'm interested!